Recently, much attention has been devoted to biochemical reaction measuring apparatuses which can detect very small amounts of biochemical substances by using immunological and other techniques. For example, immunological measuring apparatuses have been applied to diagnostic kits and others.
In general, such biochemical reaction measurements are performed by making reaction between very small amounts of specimens and reagents etc. in certain reaction cells or recipients, and by using optical techniques to detect and measure the reaction. However, such measurement procedures have a problem that the analysis accuracy greatly depends upon minimizing any errors produced in the pippeted quantities of specimens, reagents etc., though the procedures themselves are monotonous and relatively simple. Consequently, it is difficult for medical technologists to treat many specimens with high accuracy for many hours and there is a possibility of errors in measurements due to the differences in their personal skills. Thus, there has been a great demand for mechanizing these measuring procedures.
Under these circumstances, the inventors have proposed the biochemical reaction measuring apparatuses equipped with a series of systems which can be effectively used for measurements for many specimens.
These biochemical reaction measuring apparatuses have been provided to treat many specimens conveniently, and they are designed such that cups (recipients) of many types prepared to provide many independent reaction cells for different biochemical reactions are fitted and held in holes formed in arrays on carrying plates and the sample pippeting, reaction processing, and reaction analyzing processes are performed in sequence while the carrying plates with cups are transported on the conveying paths.
On the conveying paths in the biochemical reaction analyzing apparatuses as described above, such processes can be also performed in general as seal breaking of cup sealing sheets, pippeting of reaction substances (reagents, antibodies, etc.), separation and cleaning of extra reaction substances, pippeting of substrates reacting with enzymes according to the biochemical reaction marker, agitation, etc. In addition, it is preferred that the conveying paths are equipped with thermostatic means for carrying out a series of processes under predetermined temperature conditions.
In the biochemical reaction measuring apparatus equipped with the mechanized system as described above, it is practical that many of cups are disposed of as waste after the completion of measuring processes and that the carrying plates which have held and carried the cups are reused for the measurement of new specimens.
From this point of view, it is desired that the apparatuses will be more mechanized and automatized by providing them with a mechanism which can remove and throw away the carried cups from the above-described carrying plate at the end of the carrying path. However, the mechanisms of chuck type and sucking head type as normally devised present the disadvantage that they are complicated in construction and low in working efficiency.
An object of the present invention is to operate and utilize more conveniently in practice the biochemical reaction measuring apparatuses equipped with the mechanized system wherein many cups are arrayed and submitted to measuring processes in order according to the protocol.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a biochemical reaction measuring apparatus equipped with a cup unloading mechanism which can remove all cups together from a carrying plate at the end of the above-described system after the cups are used as the reaction cells in which the predetermined biochemical reactions are produced while they are being held and transported in arrays on the plate, and which can be conveniently applied to the mechanization and automatization of the apparatus.